Thy Angels Watch
by Kiara-Zzyopen
Summary: With the Devil on the loose, it's time for the Winchesters to call in the cavalry. Who knew it would include the teenage leader of the magical world, and an emotionally damaged boy trying to come to terms with a double life? Future Charmed, Post S4 SPN


Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or Supernatural

Timelines: Future Charmed and directly after the S4 Supernatural finale.

Summery: With the Devil on the loose, it's time for the Winchesters to call in the cavalry. Who knew it would include the teenage leader of the magical world, and an emotionally damaged boy trying to come to terms with a double life?

**THY ANGELS WATCH by Kiara**

_**And now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep...**_

Sammy hadn't said anything in hours. Not since they had fled the convent, both looking in the rear mirror as the black clouds literally gathered, lightening flashing so brightly that it burned the back of your eyes. Not since Lucifer had risen.

Dean had practically had to drag Sam away as the light got hotter and brighter. He knew Sammy better than anyone, knew that the guilt was threatening to pull him down. Sam would have willing given himself up as a sacrifice to the devil if it meant buying his brother a little more time to get away, but Dean had quickly put a stop to that train of thought. They had been separated enough. Now it was time for the Winchester brothers to get things back on track...together.

"It's," Dean started, well aware that this could be the beginning of the chick flick moment to end all chick flick moments. "It's not your fault."

Sam snorted. "Even you don't believe that."

"You were played, Sammy."

"You saw through her." Sam retorted. Angry at himself for falling for it, and most of all angry because he could feel the edges of addiction creeping up on him. But this time, he'd lock himself in the damn demonic-panic room himself.

"I wasn't talking about Ruby." Dean said after a moment. "Apparently, the heavens had another plan. They wanted this to happen. You killing Lilith, that was the grand plan."

Sam turned to look at his brother for the first time and saw the incredulous sincerity in his eyes. "I just set Lucifer free. Are they mad?"

Dean shrugged. "They think they can win this thing and that it'll make the world a better place or some shit."

Sam shook his head. "They are mad."

"You're not a monster, Sammy. We've just been fucked over by an angel."

Sam shook his head, trying to process the information. All this...it was part of the grand plan? The angels were working against them, they actually wanted him to... "How are we going to win this?"

Silence.

Sam tried again, this time with a question his brother actually knew the answer to. "Where are we going?"

"Castiel's gone renegade." Dean said wryly. "He's getting help, we're meeting him in North Liberty, Indiana."

Sam nodded. It wasn't like he was going to argue after everything that had happened. "Fine. What kind of help?"

Dean shook his head. That had occurred to him too and he had been able to come up with an answer. They hadn't exactly had the best of luck with the other angels, so he wasn't exactly looking forwad to reaching their destination. But they didn't really have that many options. "No idea Sammy."

"Dean." Castiel stood up when he saw them standing in the doorway. He looked to Sam, his gaze at it's most unreadable. "Sam. You made it."

"The world is ending. I didn't exactly have anywhere else to go." Dean took a step forward, instinctively shielding Sam.

The two 'backs of heads' that Castiel had been talking to slowly turned around and Dean could have groaned. They were kids, younger than Sammy, and not belonging in a war with the devil himself.

"This is your help?" He said to Castiel, trying to keep the scepticism out of his voice.

"He can protect us."

"Really?" Dean looked at the older of the two boys. He was probably just out of high school, complete with cocky smirk that implied he could do anything. At that age, he probably thought it was true.

"Christopher Halliwell." Castiel said and, to Dean's surprise, the younger boy stood up. His dark hair fell into his eyes, his expression wary and closed. He looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, but he was just a kid.

"I told you, it's Chris." He said firmly. Nothing good called him Christopher.

Castiel gave him a sidelong look, clearly saying that this was not the time. "He's half-elder. He can stop my superiors from finding us."

Dean shook his head. He could tell that this was going to be a frustrating time for him. "And what the heck is a 'half-elder'?"

"We come from a sub-section of your world." Chris explained and the Winchester's couldn't help but wonder what damage this softly spoken boy could do. "Yours is governed by angels and archangels. Ours by whitelighters and elders."

"I'm half-Whitelighter on our Dad's side. He got promoted before Chris was born, so he's half-Elder." The older boy continued, giving Sam and Dean some unfounded reassurance as they realised that they were dealing with two brothers. Like them. He grinned despite the severity of the situation. "I'm Wyatt Halliwell by the way."

"Dean Winchester." He said gruffly. "That's my brother Sam. You telling me that you're part-angel?"

Wyatt nodded. "In the flesh."

"Yours or someone else's?" Dean said warily, reaching to rest a hand on the gun tucked into his waistband. Just in case.

"We inherited our angel side. I was born an angel, I grew up as an angel...though our mother would probably disagree. We're as human as you are, just with a few enhanced abilities." Chris said softly.

"We haven't had the best of luck with angels." Dean frowned as he looked at Chris. "Even less with archangels."

"Us neither." Chris snorted, but was no more forthcoming with information.

"They are the latest generation of Warren witches." Castiel explained. He had spent enough time with Dean to know that he would require assurance, knowledge that he was doing the right thing and trusting the right people. "Their family has been fighting demons for over three hundred years. Their mother was Piper Halliwell, a Charmed One who fought more demons in a year than your father did in his whole life. She refused to abide by the Elder's rule, but was too important to the balance for them to eliminate. It was decided that the Halliwells would fall outside of heavens jurisdiction. We will aid when asked, but can not interfere. The orders came from...very high up."

"You're witches?"

"Good witches." Chris said and Wyatt nodded his agreement. When Castiel had come to them, the first reaction had been less than favorable. And then Wyatt had delved into his mind, pulling out the truth. That was the only reason they had agreed to help, but they knew that the Winchester's might not be too receptive when they found out their true nature. The Halliwells had only had a couple of encounters with hunters, but they had quickly learnt that they were not too fond of witches.

"Witches who are also angels?"

"We're just special like that." Wyatt quipped. He was the glass half full kind of person, while Chris was more half-empty. He hadn't always been that way, but recent events had changed Chris into someone different. But he was still Wyatt's little brother. He just remembered a different life, a darker life, and it was haunting him. They would get through it . It takes more than a brain full of alternate-universe memories to break a Halliwell.

"Right." Dean gave him a disbelieving look.

"Cas said that you broke the last seal?" Chris said, turning to Sam who had not spoken at all. He didn't look like the big bad anti-Christ, just like another poor schmuck who had been manipulated by heaven and hell alike. He knew what that felt like.

Sam nodded, crossing his arms across his chest and looking at the floor. Dean glared at the both of them, leaping to his brother's defense with the ease of someone who had had years practise at doing so. "It would never have happened if your lot didn't keep butting in."

Chris raised one eyebrow and Dean suddenly felt like he was looking at a much older man...until he spoke. "I dragged my ass across the country to hide you from 'our lot' as you put it. I have a mountain of homework due Monday and my mom will kill me if I get detention. I was only asking a question."

"You're in high school?" Sam finally spoke.

Chris turned his glare on the other brother. "Yeah, and I would really like to graduate so if we could get a move on..."

Wyatt clapped his brother on the shoulder, seeing that they weren't making any friends with the Winchesters. "Chris, relax. It's just the end of the world."

Chris took a deep breath, pulling Chris version 2.0 to the forefront and when he opened his eyes the Winchesters could see a teenager there. "Right; nothing we haven't seen before. So, Lucifer's out?"

Dean shook his head, marvelling at the change in the man before him. There was a story there, and sooner or later he would hear it. "Well we didn't exactly stick around to see, but yeah."

"And you're the one who can stop it?"

"So the angels tell me." Dean smirked, not showing how disturbed he was by the kid's judging stare. He knew what he was doing dammit.

"There's gonna be a high price tag on your head." Wyatt warned, the goofy teen giving way to the Twice Blessed as they down to business.

"Nothing's going to happen to him." Sam said quietly, but clearly. He could hear his blood pounding in his ears, demon blood. The pain was starting as well, but he was determined not to show it as Castiel was regarding him very carefully. He wasn't going to break in front of them.

Castiel had other ideas. He might not understand much about humans, but he understood demons. He could see the hunger in Sam's eyes and that was a part of the reason why he had gone to the Halliwells. "Heal him."

Chris stepped forward, but his brother immediately pulled him back. "No, I'll do this one."

"What are you talking about?" Dean snapped, positioning himself in front of his brother. No way he was letting anyone near Sam without his say so. Not again.

"Your brother's infected with demon blood." Wyatt said frankly and Sam's gazed dropped back to the floor. "I'm going to heal him. It's one of the powers Whitelighters have to help their charges."

Dean stared at him for a moment, weighing up his options. He saw Cas nod encouragingly out of the corner of his eye. "One wrong move, and I end you."

Wyatt placed a hand over Sam's heart and closed his eyes, calling on his power.

"You sure you don't want my help?" Chris offered when the glow took longer than normal to appear.

"Nope." Wyatt said tightly, focused on his powers.

"Why not?" Dean asked, but he was ignored as everyone's eyes were on Wyatt and Sam as a golden light started emitting from the witch's hand.

"Right now, he's our main line of defence. Do you have any idea how much energy it takes to hold up enough wards to stop arch angels from finding us?" Wyatt said, more relaxed now as the healing glow started to spread over Sam. "Chris' not doing any magic if I can help it. Don't worry, we know what we are doing. There, how you feeling?"

Sam frowned. "Uh, okay I guess."

"We are wasting time." Castiel intoned. "We cannot hide forever."

"But we can't go head long into this without a plan. I've had my fill of suicide missions, thank you very much."

"What's that meant to mean?" Wyatt said, though he had a fair idea and he knew that Chris wouldn't tell him anyway. He had pieced together a few things from what had happened to Chris in the alternate dimension, but his brother had been decidedly closed lipped about the whole thing, and their parents refused to reveal what they knew too. Only Chris' continued promises that he would explain when, and if, he was ready, kept his interrogation at bay. Wyatt knew his brother better than anyone and, though he hated to see the haunted look in his eyes and the suspense was just about killing him, he would wait. Not that Chris had given him any other options; his brother could out-stubborn anyone.

"Not the time, Wyatt. Now we start preparing." Chris said, his mind already weighing up the possibilities, running through the stategies which this world had never seen, but he had perfectly executed in another life. The warrior in him saw the thinking behind the Elders actions; he'd gone from being the weak link to being a valuable asset to the cause. But that didn't mean he had to like it.

"Recruitment drive." Wyatt supplied seeing that this bother wasn't offering any more information. He was so anti-social sometimes. More so lately.

"Well, uh, we have Bobby." Dean said uncertainly. They had burned most of their bridges. "He'll be able to give you more names."

"Call him." Chris said shortly, causing Wyatt to roll his eyes. "I'll speak to Bianca, get the Phoenix clan on board."

"Phoenix?" Dean said uncertainly. "We're resorting to mythical wildlife?"

"They are a clan of witches. Assassins."

"We're working with assassins now?"

"They can be trusted." Chris said certainly. He had spent a lot of time building allies, much to his mother's worry. Ever since he had turned eighteen and had his brain flooded with memories of another time, he had known that sooner or later something would upset the balence. It always did. So he had spent every spare minute honing his skills, learning about magic. He'd always been smart, now he was so driven it bordered on obsession. He made deals, worked alongside magical creatures, spent hours reading up on demons at Magic School, all to prepare for this. His powers had grown more in the last six months that they had in the last ten years to the point where he could give even Wyatt a run for his money. He'd even changed physically, the physical training combined with a growth spurt earning him some attention for the girls at school. Not that it was any of them who he was interested in.

"They'll help us. Chris' dating their little princess." Wyatt revealed.

"No, I'm not." Chris sighed, obviously well used to this particular taunt. "So, I'll speak to Bianca and then go to Freya and the Valkeries. If this doesn't count as a final battle, then I don't know what does."

Wyatt frowned as his brother plunged into his battle plans. He didn't know how to react when Chris started talking like this, it made him uncomfortable as he used to always be able to read his brother, now he was less predictable. "You don't think that's a bit premature? We haven't even told Mom and Dad."

"They're retired." Chris said shortly and, though he had refused to speak to his brother about 99% of what he remembered, Wyatt had picked up on Chris' sudden overprotectiveness of the family, particularly their mother. Something bad had heppened, and a little voice was telling him not to push it. "And no, I don't think it's premature, Wyatt. They're warriors, they're going to be involved and we owe them fair warning."

Wyatt shook his head in defeat. "Sure. Whatever."

Chris picked up on that tone and hated himself for causing it. "Wyatt..."

"It's okay. Just go, I'll see you at home."

Chris looked torn for a couple of seconds, but then he orbed out.

Dean and Sam stared transfixed at the spot where he had stood. "...the fuck?!"

"Orbing." Wyatt sort-of explained. "I'm gonna go home and tell my family what's going on before Chris gets back."

Castiel just nodded. Wyatt Halliwell was the current holder of excaliber; though he would offer guidance, the angels would not tell him what and what not to do. It was not their place.

"An explanation would be nice, Cas." Dean said a little hoarsely as he watched a person disappear into sparkly lights for the second time in a minute. Castiel just gave him a blank look. "What's with the kids?"

Castiel frowned as if though the answer would be obvious. "They can help."

"Yeah, so we heard, but what's their deal?"

"Wyatt Halliwell is the current ruler of the magical community. He wields excaliber, so they will listen to him and, if he asks, fight for him."

Dean and Sam both thought back to the teenager they had just met. "Seriously?"

Castiel ignored them. "There is a plan for Chris, heaven is full of talk that he will have a roll to play in what it to come. Zachariah once told me that one of his superiours was involved in his reconditioning."

"His what?" Sam asked, suspecting it to be unpleasent. He wasn't wrong.

"The last time the Halliwell family faced a major threat, was when Wyatt and Chris were just babies. They are good fighters, but not warriors with years of battle experience. But that is not the way it has always been. The future is very fragile when humans are involved, and open to change at any point. I am told that originally Chris was a great warrior, leading a resistance against one of the greatest evils the world has ever seen. When he realised that there was no hope for his original future, Chris travelled back twenty-two years in time to stop the great evil before it had a chance to establish itself. He suceeded in changing the world, but he died in the process. On his eighteenth birthday, somebody merged Christopher's memories from both timelines and they had their hardened warrior. It was that event which caused the Halliwells to cut their final ties with the Elders."

"So he remembers a future that never happened?" Dean said slowly, and even Castiel could see that he had not fully grasped what he was saying.

"Zachariah said that originally it was the final battle against the source of all evil. The few humans that survived were forced underground, and were hidden by Chris' orgainisation while demons roamed the upworld freely."

"So pretty much hell on earth." Dean summed up, unpleasent memories rising to the surface. "We get it. The kid knows what he's doing."

"You should call Bobby." Sam said, meaning: I don't think I'm ready to talk to him yet.

"Go ahead. I need to talk to Cas about something." Dean said, meaning: You owe him an explanation.

Sam paused for a second, and Dean could see the panic in his eyes until he looked down at the phone and his resolve hardened. He'd done this to himself and had to take responsibility for the fallout. The Winchesters were not cowards.

"You wanted to ask me something?" Castiel said the minute Sam had closed the motel door behind him.

"What? Oh no, I just wanted Sam to make the call."

Castiel looked surprised. Ever since he had first been assigned to Dean, had hadn't stopped asked questions, wanting to know more. Until now? When even the angels had questions?

"To be honest, Cas, at this point I give up. I'm just going with it." Dear shook his head wearily as little blue lights started forming in the corner of the room. "Case in point."

The lights formed into Chris Halliwell and a hot girl. He would have assumed that she was one of the hunters Chris had gone off to recruit, and if that was the case then his world got a little bit brighter. Her boots looked study enough even if they had clearly been chosen with fashion as well as form in mind, but that's where the practicality of the outfit ended. The short demin skirt and tightly fitted tank top were not what he would expect a hunter to wear. Though if she wanted to wear that on hunts, who was he to complain?

He put on his most charming smile. "Hi there."

She gave him a quick smile. "So are you Sam or Dean?"

"That's Dean." Chris murmered, his hand still resting possessively on the small of her back from where he had orbed them both to the motel. Not that Bianca belonged to him or anything, but that didn't mean he had to like the way Dean was looking at her.

"The new savior of the world. I'm Bianca, from the Phoenix clan." She said with a grin, but she had already turned her attention back to Chris. "You and Wyatt aren't feeling too redundant, are you?"

"I'm sure we'll survive." Chris replied dryly.

"You better." She growled playfully, but he could see the sincerity in her eyes. In a rare moment of boldness which felt competely natural to him, he dropped a quick kiss to the top of her head. They were taking things slowly. As in glacial. They had first met years ago when Chris had been thirteen and her nearly sixteen. They had gotten on well, but the case their mothers had been working on had ended and they had gone their seperate ways. Four years later, they were hunting the same demon and joined forces, much to Piper's dismay. She watched the growing attraction between her seventeen-year-old baby and a woman in her twenties (Okay, a woman who had recently turned twenty), with a vocal disapproval, despite the duo's protests that there was nothing was going on. Even Biana's firm statement wouldn't make her back down, made when the Phoenix finally snapped after a long afternoon of comments from Piper, that IF anything was to ever happen between her and Chris, it wouldn't be until after he had turned eighteen.

Then Chris had turned eighteen and his world had turned upside down. Even Piper had to admit that Bianca had been there for Chris when he had been losing his mind and, though at the time, when he had vanished after freaking out for no apparent reason or having a nightmare, he always came back from Bianca's calmer. That didn't mean she liked her though. But Chris trusted Bianca and, though it seemed both of them knew where they were heading, neither of them was in a particular hurry to get there. Unlike the first time round (which Chris couldn't help but compare to) when they hadn't met until later, after the Resistance was formed, and they had fallen into bed first and become friends later. But that was a different world.

Dean watched the interaction between the two unshamedly. He was always interested in how other hunters lived their lives, even if these two weren't typical hunters. He cast a look at Cas who had been remarkably quiet ever since the two witches had come back. It was hard to tell, but Dean didn't think he was particularly happy and, from the way Chris had been ignoring the angel's presence, it seemed that he might be right and Chris might be aware of the problem.

Dean cleared his throat to break the somewhat awkward silence. "So you're one of these allies?"

She snuck a quick glance at Chris. "I guess so. So what we fighting? Chris just said there was an emergency with you and your brother."

Dean gave him an incredulous look, to which he just shrugged.

"The Devil. We let the Devil out of hell." Sam announced his presence with a bang.

"No, seriously." Bianca scoffed. Everyone just looked at her. They weren't making it up then. She took a moment to process, and then whacked Chris on the arm. Hard. "And you were planning on telling me this when, exactly?"

He gave her that smirk that she loved. "Does it make a difference?"

No, it didn't. She would fight God himself if he asked her to, but he wasn't getting off that easily. She jerked her chin up a notch, looking him straight in the eye. "It might."

He knew she was playing with him, but he was willing to go along with it for now. "Come on, Bee; you know I'll just get my careless ass kidnapped without you there to keep me in line..."

She hit him on the arm again, shaking her head at his over-the-top wince. It hadn't hurt him. She would never hurt him on purpose.

"...Yeah, just like that."

"Fine. Whatever." She turned to Sam who had been watching them carefully. So this was him; he didn't look like the sort to drink demon blood, but then who did? "You must be Sam."

He nooded, hands shoved deep in her pockets, not quite meeting her gaze.

"How's Bobby?" Dean asked. If his brother had come back into the room of his own accord, then it couldn't have gone too badly. When Sam broods, he did it in private.

"Fine." Sam muttered. Bobby's acceptance of his screw up was unnerving, and he was already on his way to meet them to 'sort this bitch out' as he put it. "He's fine. He's on his way."

"Your hunter friend?" Chris asked. In the background, he could sense Castiel moving forwards, finally going to say whatever it was that he was thinking, most likely something against Bianca as he had never met an angel who didn't have something to say about that in either life. "Once I get the Valkeries and co. on board, and Wyatt rallies the magical creatures, we'll have ourselves a proper little army...where is Wyatt?"

Dean frowned, not wanted to start a brotherly fight. Castiel had no such worries. "He went to speak with The Charmed Ones."

"Of course he did." Chris wasn't surprised. His brother rarely did as he was asked, a trait that went both ways in their relationship. He turned to Bianca. "Do you want me to take you home before she arrives?"

"It's fine."

"Your mother does not approve of your choice in mate?" Castiel intoned, sounding very much like he agreed.

They both blushed, though whether it was from embarrassment or annoyance wasn't clear. Chris levelled an ice cold glare on the angel, the one he usually reserved for demons. "I'm not an animal, I don't 'mate.' And even if I did, I'm failing to see how it would be any of your business."

Castiel knew an order when he heard one and, despite his recent actions, he would usually follow them. He simply inclined his head slightly, showing that he understood. Nobody in the heavens would ever approve of the match; a Halliwell witch with a Phoenix with demonic powers? It wasn't appropriate and if it ever progressed further, Castiel suspected something would be done. Although, they tried that with the boy's parents, but that didn't work out very well and, in hindsight, it was what was best for the magical community after all. Perhaps this would be another of the grey areas. Well, for now at least, it wasn't his problem. They had bigger things to worry about...like the Devil for example.

"I should go and speak with Freya anyway." Chris muttered, still glaring daggers at the angel. He held out a hand to Bianca, the wards he was still holding up preventing her from shimmering. "Do you want to come? She likes you."

Piper Halliwell would say she has excellent timing. Her sons would beg to differ

"Christopher Perry Halliwell!" She began before the orbs had fully formed. She took in the scene in one look. Her son's irritated and slightly fearful, because he knew what his mother was like in this mood, look and his hand in that girl's. "I should have known she would be involved in this."

The shutters immediately closed behind Chris' eyes as they always did when this topic was breeched. "Bianca has nothing to do with this. I brought her here to help."

"Mom..." Wyatt pleaded, not wanting to have this conversation in front of Castiel and the Winchesters, but his mother ignored him. He looked to his aunts, who had also insisted on coming along, to try and get them to intervene.

"I thought you said there was nothing between you two? You're lying to me now, Chris?"

"No." He said through gritted teeth, as Bianca dropped his hand like she had been burned. "And anyway, I'm eighteen. I can see whoever I want to."

"Now isn't the time guys." Phoebe said, having witnessed this argument before.

"We have bigger problems." Paige added. "You know, world ending, etcetera etcetera."

"Another thing which my son decided not to mention." Piper said darkly, but she allowed the subject to be changed. She had been living with her destiny for a long time now and knew how important it was.

Chris met her gaze unashamedly. He wasn't sorry for trying to keep his family safe. "It's under control."

"Chris, we've been doing this a lot longer than you have." Piper grasped onto the edges of her calm. Getting angry didn't help with Chris, they were too similar and these days Chris' mouth got away with him sometimes- as if he wasn't used to dealing with her anymore which was something she hated thinking about. Since his eighteenth birthday, she had become accustomed to these lapses when Chris Halliwell became Chris Perry, the whitelighter they had learned to love but, boy, did he make it difficult sometimes.

"No, you haven't." Chris said with an unnatural calmness. This wasn't the son she had watched grow up, this was someone darker who was used to holding back their emotions; burying them deep inside so they didn't get you killed. Chris had never needed to do that this time round; he had always had his brother or parents to talk too. But now he didn't come to them as much; maybe he was trying to protect them, maybe with the new memories he forgot that he wasn't alone anymore, but something was different. "I've got two lives of doing this. That's about forty years all in."

"But I'm still your mother." Piper said firmly, used to dealing with this Chris now, even if it chilled her to the bone to see her son like that, so empty and alone. Not that she would ever admit it. She did everything she could to make it seem like nothing had changed, but she couldn't help but wish she had her baby boy back. And she felt guilty as hell for wishing it. And even guiltier that Chris knew what she was thinking.

Sam and Dean exchanged looks. They couldn't leave, the only thing that was stopping the angels from unleashing their wrath was this kid so until they figured out a plan they weren't going anywhere. But they didn't want to be there. There was something about this kid, he was all dark and troubled and they were curious and sympathetic, but right now there were bigger problems to deal with.

Under other circumstances, Bianca might have tried to make the Winchesters feel more at ease or get the conversation back on topic. As a clan, they were pretty business orientated. But that was before Chris had wormed his way under her defences, and now the Halliwells were not just business. He had told her a bit about the other world, such as the reason why Piper didn't trust her, but she knew he was worried about freaking her out (which it did a little) and gave her a heavily edited version. She found out that they had been engaged from Phoebe but still, even though she had tried to keep her distance after that, she had found herself being pulled back in. Chris Halliwell just had that affect on her...in any dimension it seemed.

She caught Wyatt's eye and he gave her an imitation of a smile in support. He had actually been pretty good about the whole whatever-it-was developing between her and Chris. Despite his fearsome anti-demon reputation she had quickly realised that Wyatt was a big teddy bear...at least until you threatened his brother. They all hated the situation, but they all stuck around because it was Chris and he would do the same for them a hundred times over. He had, if the whispers she had overheard from the others were to be believed. He'd died to make sure they all had a better life, but now he was struggling again and this time it was their turn to save him. And even if Piper actually resorted to blowing her up, she wasn't going anywhere. Even during those awkward almost-arguments that he seemed to have with almost every authority figure in his life these days. She gave Wyatt a half smile back; two people in the middle of something they didn't fully understand, but had to deal with the repercussions of. Sometimes, life just sucked.

Wyatt figeted uncomforably. He never knew what to say when the family started off like this, although it was happening less these days. The adjustment period was long, but they were getting there slowly. Chris was getting used to having the extra memories and, at least when he was around their family, it seemed to be Chris version 2 in the driving seat. Well mostly; they still had moments like this one, but they were few and far between. Piper and the aunts had figured out the meaning of 'personal space' and, for once, weren't pushing it. They realised that if they pushed Chris to far, they would just push him away and nobody wanted to risk that. Wyatt, well, he just tried to carry on as normal, letting his brother know that he would be there for him whatever happened and not letting him do anything stupid. Well, trying to anyway, but there were limits to what even the Twice Blessed could do.

"You said that you wanted to cut back on the vanquishes!" Chris protested, though he knew that sounded weak. He knew his family would want to be involved in this, and one look at his mother's face showed that she wasn't buying it either.

"Cut back, not cut it out all together." Phoebe corrected unneccessarily. They all knew what was going on here, but they had a tendency to gloss over anything relating to the other world. Chris had made it adamently clear that he didn't want to talk about it, and they had all agreed not to push it.

"We're not over the hill just yet, sonny." Paige added, complete with comical finger wagging. But it didn't ease the tension which hung thick as smoke in the room.

"You know we didn't mean this, peanut." Piper said softly, and despite the situation, Dean smirked at the nickname.

Then Chris dropped his confident gaze, and the Halliwells were reminded that the two Chris' were not all that different. They both cared about their family and made that their number one priority. "I'm just trying to keep everyone safe."

"Chris, we're going to be fine." Piper said gently.

"What makes you so sure?" Chris argued, his finely tuned composure reaching it's limit point as a touch of desperation and worry was heard in his voice.

"What makes you so unsure?" Paige grinned. There might be a few more lines around her eyes now, but the laughter was still there the same as always. "I'll have you know we're pretty awesome."

"Because I watched it happen." Chris snapped, finally confirming what they had all suspected. There is no way any of the Charmed One's would have ever let their nephew time travel alone, and with such a stupid plan, if they were still around, and Chris version 1 had admitted that something had happened to Piper when he was a boy. Once the Power of Three was broken, the rest wouldn't last long. "By the time I was sixteen, Grandpa was the only adult left. Two years later him and all the kids were all gone too. There. Now you know. Does that make you happy?"

The Winchester's hovered in the background, feeling awkward and like they were intruding. Castiel, lacking such human emotions, watched the scene unfold with open curiosity, while all the Halliwells and Bianca had their full attention on Chris, hearts breaking a little bit.

"Chris, that's all different now. You're eighteen and we're all still here. And staying here." Piper said firmly.

"So bro," Wyatt clapped his hand on his brother's shoulder giving him a much needed reality jolt. "We doing this thing or what?"

Chris looked around the room. It was full to capacity, brimming with supportive family members and new allies. There was still evil in the world, there always would be, but this time round they were ready to fight it. This time, the Halliwells were united against the thing they were fighting, not battling one of their own. And that made all the difference. "Let's go to war."

_**...And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.**_

For now, this is finished, but that's not to say I won't write more if inspiration strikes. It's been a while since I posted anything, so my muse is slightly rusty and I would love to hear your comments. Please review and let me know your thoughts. Thank you, and seasons greetings. Kx


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